How Real Estate Agents Are Promoting Themselves Through Video

Video is scary, not the late-night horror movies on cable TV. I mean the marketing videos that seem to be everywhere we look these days, those are the scariest ones. These videos are scary because deep inside, every realtor knows that video should be part of their business – but it probably isn’t – or at least, not a big enough part!

The real estate agents who effectively use video in their businesses are not scared. They know that video is not as hard to create as it looks. The costs are lower than might be imagined, and the results are way better than they dreamed of.

Here are the numbers that should convince you to include video in your ongoing marketing:

We have compiled some top tips that you can add to your video marketing, to improve the way you promote your real estate business with video. Let’s make video marketing less scary.

1. Design a solid strategy that covers the types of videos that you will create.

Answer the following questions in your brainstorming, and you’ll be well on the way to having a workable video marketing strategy:

What will you show in your videos?

Who will be featured in your videos?

How will each video generate leads?

How long will your videos be?

What is the purpose of the videos you plan to make?

Who will produce the videos – yourself or a pro videographer?

With these questions sorted out, you can get on with the production process of scriptwriting, filming, and editing.

2. Synergise your work by using the most powerful video marketing platform: YouTube.

YouTube is owned by Google who features YouTube content heavily in their search results. YouTube, on its own, is the second largest search engine in the world. The platform is reliable and easy to use for both uploading and managing your content and a reliable streaming system for making live videos (see down the page for more about that).

3. Let people know who you are with brand explainer videos.

This is a great pale to start making videos by talking about the topic you know best, yourself, your business and your brand. Let people know exactly how passionate you are about helping them to buy, or sell, their houses. Show people the type of properties you sell and the kind of areas you are active in.

Let people know who you are and what you stand for.

4. Show people the community they will be moving into.

When people buy a new home, it isn’t just the bricks and mortar they buy. Your buyers are also buying into the community. Prospective buyers want to know something about the area in which they plan to live. Create video content that shows what the neighbourhood is like, show where schools, shopping and leisure are so that strangers can start to feel they already live in the area.

5. Keep it short and sweet!

People’s attention spans are falling, and we are all getting busier. It is tough to get people to watch long videos all the way through. Keep your videos short and to the point. About two minutes is a sweet spot, although you might find you can extend that as you become more proficient at video production.

6. Add call to action links and lead capture forms to your videos.

A trick that many real estate agents miss in the promotional videos is providing a call to action or getting contact info from viewers. Both are possible. When you use a CTA or lead capture form, you can communicate with any viewer who liked what they saw in your video presentation.

7. Add a video to the home page of your website.

A video about your business on the home page of your website will increase the chances of being shown on page one of Google. The difference is enormous, according to Forrester Research, your page is 53x more likely to rank on page one for relevant searches than with no video present.

8. Add a transcript to your videos.

When you upload your videos to YouTube, and other video platforms, make sure to add a transcript to the video. This is an aid to the hearing impaired but possibly more importantly it allows search engines to identify your content accurately and rank it higher for relevant searches either on the video platforms you use or in the main search engines.

9. Do more with your real estate promotional videos.

Home buyers are accustomed to video walkthroughs of homes on the market. Differentiate yourself by offering live-streamed video for remote buyers so that out-of-area buyers can walk through a home with you. As they go through the house, they can ask questions, and you can answer directly and show the viewers relevant aspects of the property as you do so.

10. People love testimonials!

You know it is true – you probably look for testimonials when you make significant purchases. Testimonials help prospective clients to trust you and have confidence in what you are offering them. Research shows that testimonials are the most effective type of marketing video content. The next most highly regarded forms of content are tutorial and demonstration videos – perhaps there’s a way you could use those in your promotional video marketing?

There you have it, ten actionable pointers to help you make video marketing less scary and much, much, more effective. If you follow these tips, then you will be ahead of almost all the competition in your local area, that’s a promise!

In the comments below, please let us know what has worked for you in your video marketing – and what hasn’t!

If there’s something that we should have mentioned but didn’t, please shout up and let us know. Thanks for reading this far. We will be publishing more content about video marketing and promotion shortly so your welcome suggestions will give us guidance.